A Good Day of Fishing is Better Than…

Fishing the Owyhee River

There is an old saying I have seen plastered across bumper stickers and coffee cups, and heard countless times when I return from a fishing trip where I received the big skunk. “Well a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work.” Ok that is fine and dandy, and yes it is true that I just love to fish and so even if I don’t catch anything I am always glad for time spent on the river but sometimes you have one of those days that reminds you that fishing is way more fun when you catch fish. I mean it is fine that a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work and all but for some people so is painting their house. No great feat there. This Tuesday night I had another one of those nights that reminds me why I love fishing so much.

It’s not just the fish that keep me coming back to the Owyhee River.

It started late Monday night with my wife innocently mentioning she was taking pictures the next evening and Nana was going to be in town and could watch the kids so I was free to go fishing…”you know, if you want to.” I jumped all over that one like a hungry high lake brook trout on a big juicy grasshopper. So after work my father-in-law, Kelly, and I headed for the picturesque Owyhee River, a mere 30 minute drive from our office.

The sun shines off the Owyhee River’s canyon walls

Kelly had been with me on three previous jaunts to this river and every time he had been skunked, and the fishing hadn’t been so hot for me either in those outings. I think I only caught two fish on those three trips and neither was while I was close enough to him for him to catch a glimpse of them. I was a little surprised then, when I asked him to come that he said yes with no hesitation beings as I think he was starting to question if there was even fish in that river.

Kelly casting to big brown trout.

Some days things just come together and this was one of those days. Arriving around six in the evening I noticed a fair caddis hatch going on so I rigged up with a caddis dry and an emerger dropper. Kelly went straight to streamers as he had recently read a report that the fish were starting to hit them. I hit the run first and was having no luck when Kelly came down the bank and started down the run behind me. Almost immediately he got into a nice brown, bigger than any I had ever caught on the river before. As he played the fish I could tell by his smile that he was as hooked as the fish. It is funny how a run of skunking can be forgotten with just one big bend in the rod. My net is 20 inches long including the handle and I could quickly see this fish was not even going to begin to fit in it. As the fish swam around my legs and I tried to figure out the best way to land it I held the net down to it and saw that it was a good three inches longer than the net. You can’t help but be impressed with a fish pushing two feet.

A nice brown with broad shoulders

After stubbornly sticking with my caddis set up for a few more minutes and having no luck while hearing Kelly whoop it up as another brown chased his streamer only to come up short I decided that the big meaty fly’s was where the action was today and switched over. I was almost immediately rewarded by a big fish that came out and looked at the fly then with a swirl and slap of his huge tail dove back into his cover. I casted several more times at him and got him to take a couple more looks but did not get him. Knowing Kelly would be coming down the run behind me with a little different fly I let the fish be, and hoped by the time Kelly arrived the fish would be able to be enticed. Just a couple steps down the river I hooked into my first fish of the day. Now big browns can put up a fight but they are known to dog you, diving deep rather than putting on an aerial display but this fish had other things in mind. As gracefully as any rainbow I have ever caught this fish immediately took to the air. It was a fat fish, not the longest but still a very respectable 18 incher that was shaped like a football. As I was bringing that fish to hand Kelly hooked and lost a fish just above the hole I had received a few looks but no takes. As he moved into position in that area his first cast brought results. The fish was actually a tad smaller than the first fish he had caught but was still a good 20+ fish.

My first fish of the day, a fat 18 incher.

The evening went on like this with both of us catching fish, big fish, pulling fish from every conceivable nook and cranny on the stretch of river. Deep runs, shallow riffles, fast water, slow water, there were fish in every single portion of the river and they were all hungry. Our forearms were getting tired when we finally called it a day. The capper for the perfect day came on my last cast as the sun sank over the rim rocks of the river canyon. I threw a nice cast into a deep back eddy covered in white foam and as I stripped in the streamer a big fish came from below and knocked the fly into the air and jumped out of the water grabbing it and diving back to the depths. I stood in stunned disbelief, so shocked I never got around to setting the hook and so it came unpinned before I even got much of a tussle. The pure spectacle was enough to make me shake my head and smile. What an evening.

Another average Owyhee Brown.

Now if a bad day of fishing is described as better than a good day at work, what exactly is a good day fishing like? Well when I got home Tuesday night I couldn’t wait to tell anyone who would listen all about it. I couldn’t sleep because my mind was still filled with big fish chasing perfectly placed streamers. That was a good day of fishing, and to think I actually worked Tuesday too. Whether it was a good or bad day at work I couldn’t tell you. What I do know is that a good evening of fishing has a way of making you forget the rest of the day.